Jane makes….

Author: txtilegrl

There has been a bit of a gap in the Dunedin making scene for a few years, in particular ,workshops in Ceramics ….but not anymore… the lovely Susie has been working away to bring Dunedin ( and occasionally other places ) a Clay School. A place to have a go at completing a small project in an afternoon. You can find out about the workshops here… http://clayschool.bigcartel.com/

Susie is the talent behind the photography brand Eden Ripley, and a ceramic artist herself.

Its been a while since I have blogged but I have finally rounded up some time, so here goes!

Over the last few years ceramic houses have been flying out from lovely galleries and have found nice new homes all over the world, at this stage I kind of lose track of them. But occasionally I get commissions, these are collections that are in various corners of New Zealand and one was couriered as far as England ( miraculously it arrived without any breakages )..thank you to those that sent photos.

I was involved with a community printing event at the weekend, it was the SciArt Orokanui Halo Project, where the public engaged with art to express their ideas of biodiversity and how they want their local community to achieve this. We were a talented group of assistants, who had varied printmaking, organizational, story telling and people wrangling skills. The day was a success, people printed and wrote, and the looks of delight on faces as they created something was a real bonus for me. I am posting photos taken by Lynn Taylor ( as she took the best photos of the day ), and a link to my Facebook page as it has a fabulous fast action video ( which I don’t know how to share to this blog )

I’m going to finish up my September marathon with my entry for the Designer Bookbinder competition in London 2017. I finally ( after much trauma ) completed this and got it in the post, by the due date……a minor miracle !

The theme is Myths and Legends, I chose the graphic novel, Maui Legends of the Outcast. I let the content inform my binding choices. I sourced vintage Tapa cloth for its Pacific origins, graphic lines and colours that echoed the storyline; a Bone hook, so integral to the Maui legend and handmade Harakeke paper, for its connections to our land. I chose not to work in the traditional Bookbinding material of leather as New Zealand has a rich history of fibres and textiles. I’m not sure how this will be received at the competition but I was proud to have completed it.

I was pleased to be invited to show work at Hullabaloo Art Space in Cromwell, I had been part of this collective for over 3 years and having a 10 year show was a great way to catch up with everyone and to see what they had been making. http://www.hullabalooart.co.nz

It was a great show with such variety in concepts and materials. the quality of the work shown is still outstanding…Congratulations Hullabaloo!!!

I tutored a 2 session Masterclass for Risingholme community centre and Studio 380 in Christchurch. I had beginner potters through to the distance learning students from Diploma of Ceramic Arts , Otago Polytechnic. We focused on surface print and slab to 3dimensional object. The students really got into the idea of play and the great results that happen if you don’t get too worried about the end result, the more challenging part, was figuring out how to create a pattern to cut out the best bits of the printed slabs to turn them into a 3 D object. We created houses as it seems a simple form but has some quite tricky thinking involved in the forms. I covered direct intervention with the slab using slip and found materials , slip transfers, found and commercial stamps, screen print and photopolymer plates….And the finished houses were superb, everyone got great results that can be transferred to their own practices.